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Bharat Nirman Project to give telephone connectivity to the remaining 66,822 villages through BSNL.
A provision of Rs 12 bn for USO Fund in FY06 for telecom.
Mobile telephone removed from the 1/6 criterion for filing income-tax returns.
Custom duty on copper reduced from 15% to 10%.
Custom duty and CVD exemption on parts, components and accessories of mobile handsets including cellular phones continued.
Customs duty exemption for specified telecom network equipment and parts thereof, if imported by TSPs, extended beyond March 2005 without any specified time limit.
Custom duty on optical fibres and optical fibre cables reduced from 20% to 10%.
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Estimated outlay for Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to be Rs 62.5 bn during 2006-07, including a grant component of Rs 45.9 bn. Through this mission, the government intends to promote establishment of new towns, preferably focused on a specific industry (IT) or a specific theme (education or health).
Telecommunication to reach 250 m connections by December 2007.
Provision of Rs 15 bn for Universal Services Obligation Fund in 2006-07
More than 50 m rural connections to be rolled out in the next three years.
Peak rate of customs duty on non-agricultural products has been reduced from 15% to12.5% with a few exceptions.
The rate of service tax is being raised from 10% to 12%.
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Developers and suppliers of content for use in telecom to be brought under the purview of service tax.
Department of Telecommunication asked to constitute a committee to study the present structure of levies and make suitable recommendations to the government with regards to the applicability of a unified and single levy on the revenue.
Nil additional duty of customs, on parts, components and accessories of mobile handsets including cell phones, being extended upto 30th June 2009.
Hike in dividend distribution tax from 12.5% to 15% on dividends distributed by the companies.
Additional cess of 1% on all taxes to fund secondary education and higher education.
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The telecommunication industry is growing at a break neck speed with leading players lapping up mobile subscribers by millions month on month. The country’s telecom market is the 4th largest in the world in terms of wireless subscribers and 5th largest in terms of total telecom subscribers (Source: Bharti Airtel presentation). After growing its wireless (GSM and CDMA) subscriber base to over 200 m by the end of December 2007, the country is expected to take the number to 500 m telecom subscribers by the end of March 2010. This growth is likely to be aided by the availability of cheaper handsets, focus of regulatory measures to take telephony to rural markets, lower tariffs and general buoyancy in the economy.